Azure SDKs on Microsoft Azure
What are Azure SDKs?
Azure SDKs are official client libraries for interacting with Azure services from application code. They provide type-safe APIs, automatic retry logic, authentication integration, and consistent developer experience across all Azure services.
The SDKs follow unified design guidelines and are available for Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, .NET, Java, and Go. They are actively developed by Microsoft and are open source on GitHub.
Azure SDKs integrate with Azure Identity for authentication (Managed Identity, Service Principal, Azure CLI Credentials) and provide logging, telemetry, and error handling following best practices.
Typical Use Cases
Service integration: Access Azure Blob Storage, Cosmos DB, Key Vault, Service Bus, and other Azure services from application code.
Cloud-native apps: Backend services that interact with Azure services. Event-driven architectures with Azure Functions and Event Grid.
DevOps automation: Scripts for resource provisioning, deployment pipelines, and operational tasks with Azure Management SDKs.
Data engineering: Data processing with Azure Data Lake, Synapse Analytics, and Azure Machine Learning via Python SDKs.
Frequently Asked Questions about Azure SDKs
Which languages are supported?
Primary support for Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, .NET (C#), Java, and Go. Community SDKs for additional languages like Rust, PHP, and Ruby.
What is Azure Identity?
Azure Identity is an SDK component for authentication. DefaultAzureCredential automatically tries different credential types (Managed Identity, CLI, Environment Variables) and simplifies authentication across different environments.
Are Azure SDKs open source?
Yes, all Azure SDKs are open source under MIT license on GitHub (github.com/Azure/azure-sdk-for-*). Issues and pull requests are welcome.
How are SDKs versioned?
Azure SDKs follow Semantic Versioning. New SDKs have the naming scheme azure-; older SDKs (azure-mgmt-, azure-storage-*) are being migrated to the new architecture.
Are there SDK differences between Management and Data Plane?
Yes. Management SDKs (azure-mgmt-) interact with Azure Resource Manager for resource provisioning. Data Plane SDKs (azure-storage-, azure-cosmos-*) work with the services themselves (read/write data).
Integration with innFactory
As a Microsoft Solutions Partner, innFactory supports you in developing Azure applications. We help with SDK integration, best practices, and cloud-native architectures.
Contact us for a non-binding consultation on Azure development.
